Experiment 1: Resonating wine glass.
In this experiment the students use vibrations of sound to try to get the wine glass to resonate so violently that it could shatter! We all have in mind the “mythic” image of an opera singer breaking the glass. This famous experiment is actually very challenging to recreate in a lab – but what is even better than breaking the glass is what happens to the glass as you illuminate it with a strobe light (the very fast flashing lights like they use in nightclubs). The strobe effectively reveals that the glass is changing shape, so the circle of the top of the glass becomes slightly deformed and the glass appears to wobble like a clay pot on a potter’s wheel! People don’t expect glass to flex in this way as it seems a very solid and brittle material so it’s very surprising.

Experiment 2: Optoelectronics in medicine
Students investigate optoelectronics as it relates to imaging inside the human body. They begin by exploring optical fibres and use inspection cameras to find hidden objects in a three dimensional maze. They then explore different types of endoscopes and their pros and cons in different situations. The culmination of the experiment is to save a patient who has swallowed a foreign object and has internal bleeding using the knowledge gained throughout the session.

Experiment 3: Light scattering
Students get to recreate their own mini blue-sky effect right inside the lorry! Using ordinary Dettol TM in water to mimic the particles in the atmosphere, light is shone through a tube to show why the sky is blue, and sunsets are red. By adding fructose (a type of sugar) to the mix the light gets twisted by different amounts up the tube, resulting in a beautiful 3D spiral rainbow.